


Like No One Ever Was

by madridistagoblue



Category: Football RPF, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, Gen, Real Madrid CF
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-04
Updated: 2014-10-03
Packaged: 2018-02-19 19:26:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2400077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madridistagoblue/pseuds/madridistagoblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I heard one league commentator say that he might even be the first trainer to defeat Champion Raúl!" </p><p>Iker turned his eyes to his young assistant. Walking over to him and crouching down ever so slightly to meet the boy’s eyes, he grabbed the collar of his assistant’s shirt and, just inches from his face, spoke to him without restraint.</p><p>"He can’t defeat Raúl, unless he gets through us first."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like No One Ever Was

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to my dear friend, Demi

 "Are you ready?" Sergio asked, his fingers running nervously through his long blond hair. He should have been excited like the other residents of Portero City. The rumors had been floating around town for a week -- _he_ was coming to challenge the Portero Gym for a chance to win the capital's prized Royal Badge. Perhaps, as the whispers of the city suggested, they were on the edge of a historic moment. Yet all he could feel was his elevated heartbeat and a touch of concern as he looked towards his leader.

"It's a match, Sergio, like any other" the older boy with dark hair and dark eyes responded calmly, rubbing the belly of a large snorlax that lay on the floor in front of him. He turned his eyes away from his pokémon for a moment to notice his assistant playing anxiously with strands of his hair. "Don't worry," the older boy said with a smile and a reassuring voice. "I'll stop him."

Sergio nodded, trying to take a cue from the Gym Leader, as he moved his arms down into a relaxed position by his side. The snorlax released a satisfied belch. Surely, the pokémon had no fear about what was to come. Sergio felt his legs shuffling underneath him -- betraying his false projection of security.

"But --" the word escaped the young boy's mouth before he was able to contain it. "You've heard what they've been saying, haven't you?"

"That he's a prodigy?" the older boy asked, his eyes still attentive to his pokémon. He reached into his pocket, producing a bottle of Iron vitamins. "Sergio, what is my role as a gym leader if not to compete against the most talented trainers in Cibeles?" He screwed the top off the bottle without further comment.

"Of course," Sergio admitted. "But aren't you a little nervous? They say he could be the best trainer in a generation. He's the first in three years not to have a single pokémon faint while challenging the Blaugrana Gym."

"And the Portero Gym has always been stronger than the Blaugrana," the gym leader laughed to himself as he fed a handful of vitamins to snorlax and returned the bottle to his pocket. "Though Puyol is a worthy opponent."

"Just two more badges and he'll have admission to the League when he's fourteen!" Sergio continued eagerly, the leader's comments having no subduing effect on his thoughts.

"And you're thirteen, Sergio," the leader replied, "and already the assistant of the largest gym in Cibeles. I believe they called you a prodigy once." The dark haired boy stood, taking a pokéball from his belt and pointing it towards the sleeping pokémon in front of him. The creature dissolved in ray of light into the round container.

Sergio smiled, but laughed nervously as he did so. It was flattering to be reminded that he, of all trainers, had been invited to study and work at capital's premier gym. Yet he was still flustered at how calm the gym leader could remain despite the challenge that surely awaited him. Of course, the leader was not without his own skills as a trainer. Iker Casillas was the top trainer of defensively-oriented pokémon in all of Cibeles and Kalos alike, taking on the role of gym leader at just 18 years old. He had held the title for less than a year, but already was nearing the record for most consecutive matches without a defeat. But that achievement was in jeopardy now. And that's why Sergio struggled to keep a straight face.

"I heard one league commentator say that he might even be the first trainer to defeat Champion Raúl!" Sergio continued with all the eagerness of a town gossip.

Iker placed snorlax's pokéball on his belt, and turned his eyes to his young assistant. Walking over to him and crouching down ever so slightly to meet the boy's eyes, he grabbed the collar of his assistant's shirt and, just inches from his face, spoke to him without restraint.

"He can't defeat Raúl, unless he gets through _us_ first," the gym leader said, before letting go of Sergio and walking down the stairs, away from the main platform of the shining, white gym.

Sergio nodded, more flustered than before, and forcing himself into taking deep breaths. With the pokémon recalled to their pokéballs and no further training until tomorrow, the gym had gone silent except for the sound of Iker's feat tapping in rhythm down the staircase. Still on the main platform, Sergio paced for a bit, shaken from Iker's words and not ready to confront the gym leader again. He walked towards a window by the corner of the platform, from which the sun's rays poured into the gym's hall, illuminating the spectacular pure white alabaster building.

Looking out the window, he saw two children at play in a public garden outside the gym. One, with short brown hair and untrimmed bangs pulled back into a headband, was almost certainly ten years old, given how he admired the small pokéball in his hand as though it were brand new. The other, a few years younger with dark hair, pestered him eagerly, poking at the arm containing the small ball.

"Stop it, James!" the older boy whined, slapping the eager young one's arm away. "Fine, I'll show you, ok?" He threw the ball with an overly enthusiastic baseball swing onto the ground in front of him. A young charmander materialized from a silvery glow.

"Wow! It's so cool, Gareth!" James admired. "I can't wait until I'm a trainer too!"

"Well…" Gareth admitted, the cocky gleam in his eyes slowly fading away, replaced by a hint of embarrassment. "I'm not really a trainer yet. I still need to pick up my pokedex from the professor once it's uploaded. And, well…I've never battled before." He laughed shyly. "But when I grow up in a couple years, I'm gonna' be JUST LIKE Cristiano Ronaldo!"

"Ronaldo's gonna' be here!!" James squealed in delight. "He's gonna' be here!"

"I know, I know!" Gareth smiled, returning charmander to its pokéball and looking at the ball eagerly. "Do you think I can get his autograph? Do you think he'll battle with me?"

Sergio turned from the window, uninterested in how the conversation ended. Or, he thought as he noticed himself playing with strands of his hair again, afraid of how it would end. _Do you think he'll win the Royal Badge?_ he finished the children's conversation in his mind. Not if Sergio could help it.

Sergio shook his head, and slowly made his way down the stairs. _Cristiano Ronaldo._ The trainer everyone in Portero City could not wait to see.  And yet, for Iker's sake, Sergio hoped against all hope that the skilled young trainer would change his mind, and that he would not travel this way for some time.


End file.
